Beside the Sea
Auguste Rodin French
Devoid of the psychic tensions that energize Rodin’s early compositions, this restful bather embodies the serenity typical of his late marbles. With its self-content aura of quiet, the figure recalls the voluptuous nudes painted by Rodin’s contemporary Auguste Renoir. Rodin hung one of Renoir’s paintings, Nude in the Sunlight (ca. 1880; Musée Rodin, Paris), above his desk, stating: "The torso of this young woman is pure sculpture." Beside the Sea was selected for The Met by John Marshall, a founder of the Rodin collection, during a 1907 visit to the sculptor’s studio. It is the only marble version of the subject.
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